I grew up in rural Alberta and now live in one of the big cities. I like it a lot. There are so many different people here from all walks of life. Lots on Ontario and BC transplants too!
It’s getting more expensive, but I’m glad we could still afford a home here. But industry keeps growing here, so we will see how long it lasts.
People complain about the traffic but I think most commutes top out at 1 hour here. Compared to what I’ve heard in Toronto, where many people travel 1–2 hours each way.
Weather is good - very sunny, we have seasons, warm winds break up the cold winters.
I think the politics aren’t unusual - the cities are quite liberal and the countryside is very conservative. Seems to be the same in other provinces imo.
Just like in any place - it’s mostly normal people living their lives.
I lived there for over 30 years and got out the second I had the opportunity. If you are even remotely queer or liberal in rural Alberta life is shit and it was unsustainably expensive to live in urban areas.
It’s fine. The weather deals in extremes, very hot or very cold, very dry or torrential downpours and floods. You don’t get taxed much in Alberta but everything is still expensive as fuck. If you aren’t in a high paying oilsand industry it can be hard to get by, the pay scale might be higher than other provinces but rent is artificially kept high because there are tons of people who can afford to spend $1200 on a small 1 bedroom apartment